A deeply concerned police chief is calling on every single officer to be armed with at least a Taser - adding that he’d push for frontline bobbies to carry guns at all times.

Sergeant Richard Cooke, chair of the West Midlands Police Federation, says “now more than ever officers need the tools to do their job”.

Sgt Cooke told BirminghamLive : “I’m calling for all frontline officers to be armed with Taser as a minimum.

“The events over the last few weeks in particular show that now, more than ever, officers protecting the public need the tools to do their job in the current climate.

“I’m referring to the assaults on officers who have been threatened with knives on several occasions; punched, kicked, bitten, nearly run over, throttled, racially and verbally abused and spat on - and that’s just the last fortnight.”

Police Sgt Ivan Merc from the West Midlands Fire Arms Unit demonstrates how to use the new X2 Taser (Image: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)

In a West Midlands Police survey, more than 60 per cent of officers said they would be prepared to carry a firearm at all times on duty.

While, of the 2,140 officers that took part, 34 per cent revealed they were “not very satisfied” of current armed support being readily available.

The Police Federation also concluded how 58 per cent of policemen and women in the West Midlands said that they felt that their life was in serious danger at least once in the last two years.

Chair Sgt Cooke, following the release of the report, cited specific national terror attacks when calling for police officers to be armed at all times.

He said: “If you remember the terrorist attacks on Lee Rigby, Borough Market and the Houses of Parliament, the first officers to arrive were unarmed officers.

Counter terrorism officers march near the scene of last night's London Bridge terrorist attack on June 4, 2017 in London

“If they’d been routinely armed would things be different? Would more lives have been saved? Would PC Keith Palmer have been murdered or could he have stopped the terrorist and lived?

“Of course we can never say for definite but that’s my argument.

“If the same thing happened in Birmingham spontaneously, the nearest officers to respond and save lives are likely to be your regular unarmed officer.”